Bem-vindo a Portugal

I realize it has been a few weeks since my last update and that I have failed miserably in keeping up with my blog the way I wanted to. Oh well.

This weekend I went to Logos, Portugal on the southern coast of Portugal. I went with about 25 kids from my school through a program called Discover Granada. It was a fantastic weekend that included lots and lots of beach time. I also laughed a lot this weekend. Probably too much. I laughed so much that tears came. And that, my friends, is the mark of a good laugh. The bus ride there was about 7 hours in all and we departed Granada at 6:15am. While we were walking in the streets to leave for the day, most people were returning from the night. Yeah, people stay out very late here.

Arrived in Lagos and checked into our 4 star hotel which was pretty sweet. They had two pools and a breakfast buffet. Each morning we stuffed our faces because usually all any of us gets for breakfast is a muffin and some yogurt which usually means eating a muffin from the muffin man or a pastry from the pan (bread) lady in-between classes. The muffin man is my favorite by far. Not the cheapest, but he has the best pastries. Anyways...Friday we spent the whole afternoon on the beach followed by a swim in the pool and then dinner in downtown Lagos. The rest of the evening was spent at a place called Gran Cafe, where all 100 Americans who came on the trip ended up. It was special. Let me add a side note to this trip, it was in no way a cultural experience. Lagos is a pretty touristy place so a lot of people speak english. But it was still fun. Lots of fun. And a lot of my Portuguese came back to me. I took an intensive semester last year and so it was fun to be able to read signs and explain the differences between Portuguese and Spanish. I felt nerdy.

Saturday there was supposed to be an optional Sangria cruise where they take you out into the ocean, give you sangria and take you to visit some really cool caves. But unfortunately the waters were very very rough and the company who does the tours called them off completely. So we took the bus to some caves and took lots of pictures before heading to yet another beach. The beach we were supposed to spend the day at Saturday was very large and very pretty. But unfortunately it was very windy and so the sand was whipping through the air so fast it felt like small needles on your skin and got into everything. I am still cleaning sand out of my bag. So everyone went back the hotel and returned to our smaller and less windy beach for the afternoon. Saturday evening we drove to the 'end of the world' to watch the sunset. It was super cool to be on the southern most tip of Portugal staring out into open water from atop of some very high cliffs. Saturday night we went out for dinner again. During dinner a bagpipist and his followers came by the restaurant, played a song, welcomed us to Lagos, and then left. The funny part about that was later that evening some of my friends saw him in a bar and he ended up playing them another song. I unfortunately was not there to whiteness this special moment.

Sunday we went to a beach on the west coast in a national park. It is famous for its surfing and they offered everyone a surf lesson for 35 euro. I did not surf but it was hilarious watching everyone else learn how. The wind was still pretty brutal but it was fun to walk around. We spent the whole day there before coming back to the hotel to take a 'shower' in the pool, change and hop on the bus for a 7 hour bus ride home.

And that was when i had the worst bus ride i've ever had. The company was fantastic and we laughed so much on the way home but the back of the bus had no AC and we were all literally dripping with sweat. Everyone who got off the bus had soaked through their clothes. It was unbelievable. The front apparently was freezing cold and we think they convinced the bus driver to turn on the heat at about 1am. I thought I was literally going to suffocate on the bus. But finally, at 2am we arrived back in Granada. And I woke up just in time for my 9am class this morning.

It was a great weekend to treat as a vacation. We actually had little if no drama in our group and I know I said this already but I laughed so hard I think I have abs again. It was all around solid weekend.

our Hotel

 beach 5 min from the hotel

beach essentials

a place that reminded us of Pirates of the Caribbean

i mean come on, there should be dead pirates here..

Greg and me

sunset at 'the edge of the world'

more beach times

And starting Friday, ill be in ITALY!!!!!!!! how bout that?? I am so fired up. 

Primer Dia de Los clases

Yep. That's right. First day back to school (that's what the title says-first day of class). And yes, I realize I am in college and I don't ride a big yellow school bus. I couldn't resist this picture though. I used to ride the bus. I loved it. I had the coolest bus driver ever and I rode bus 13. I miss it so much and you can be sure my kids will be riding the bus.

I've been dreading this day for weeks. I have enjoyed summer so much this year that I'm ready to call it quits on this school business (just kidding Mom and Dad).

Growing up, my lovely mother always woke up at the crack of dawn on the first day of school and cooked us the best breakfast you have ever eaten in your life. Yep, you have never eaten my mom's breakfast but you like it anyways. I always had the first day of school jitters. No idea why. I was really good at school, I had lots of friends, and everybody liked me (so i thought).

Anyways, since graduating I have eaten oatmeal and bagels and/or a poptart on the past first 3 days of college every year. Very anticlimactic I might say.

This morning of course was the first day of classes for the fall semester so I woke up ate my bagel, drank my tea and got ready for my 9AM Portuguese class. Yep, Portuguese.

I left at 8:30 which is about 15 min early than normal because there is construction EVERYWHERE on my route to school. The main highway I take to school is down to one lane in both directions so i avoid it at all cost. Today, everybody seemed to have the same idea as I did. It took me forever to get to school.

Went to Portuguese and felt that familiar first day of class punch in the face, except this time it was in Portuguese. I am a Spanish major and Portuguese is similar but very different. I learned that very quickly. My brain was spinning by the time the class was over. Then I decided it would be a good idea to actually take the harder Portuguese class because it actually counts towards my major. Well that class happens to meet right after the one I had just gotten out of. So...another hour of Portuguese.

Left Portuguese and headed over the campus police office to pick up (and by pick up i mean pay for) a parking pass. Forgot I had to have a copy of my schedule AND proof I paid my semester bill. Well, the website where I needed to get these lovely items was not working so I went to the Bookstore instead. Bought some books, walked out and threw away my bag in a trash can. No big deal. That is until I realized when I was on the other side of campus that I had thrown away my receipt, which I need in order to sell back some of my books.

So I walked back across campus and proceeded to dig through the trash while several dozen people passed by and stared at the crazy girl digging through the trash can on the first day of class.

I then walked back across campus to the library and on the way I happened to accidently walk through freshly laid sod around which there were several signs saying not to do so. Oops.

Finally made it to the library. And to my other class. Then I went to the gym and decided I would finish the day riding the stationary bike and lifting weights. I forgot to check out a towel and so I sweated all over the machine and the floor and anything around me. It is kind of disgusting how much I sweat. Sometimes I think it probably isn't healthy. It is probably why I have to drink about 50 gallons of water a day to feel hydrated. I'm the reason that we could run out of clean drinking water some day.

Finally finished working out and came home to my lovely apartment and about kissed the ground because I no longer have to live in a dorm room in my life. I enjoyed it but I quickly learned that I was not made to live in a dorm room. I would if I had to but it is certainly nice to have a place where I lay down on the floor without fear of contracting some kind of funky disease.

All in all I made it through day 1. Day 2 should be interesting for sure. I'm not going to lie I was eating dinner tonight and realized that I had started school. Completely forgot that I had classes to attend tomorrow. Oh well...

Don't be a stranger summer....